So, the hot tap on our bath has come loose so it swivels. So loose and swivelly that someone has finally thought to tell me.

See photo below

Tap is at far side centre of the bath. No access from either end due to walls. Any ideas how to reach under the bath and up the other side to try and tighten it?

Cheers

Bath side off, plumbers spanner

Small Victorian era child should do it.

New bathroom

Our plumber gave a rye smile when he saw we had plumped for a side tapped bath.

He said we’d have fun if we ever needed to get to the taps..

Probably quicker to knock through the wall next to the bath from the other side 😉

telekinetic wrench

Probably quicker to knock through the wall next to the bath from the other side

Or drill a tap hole in the corner and connect a new one up. Or strip the sealant and pull the bugger out.

You think you’ve got problems? For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to install wall mounted taps on our current bathroom. Can’t wait for them to need replacing.

I’ve had this…except we had a metre at one end so I could lie under the basin and wriggle down the side of the bath and painstakingly try to hold the nut whilst my other half rotated the tap, then try to turn the nut with the tap, tighten again etc.

Seen a couple of houses for sale with the side taps on the room side of the bath, looks really weird but reckon the plumber made the choice as they were rentals etc.

Could you use a vibrating multitool to cut a letterbox (with taps) out of the bath, and then remount the taps with long stainless flexy tails into a large piece of UPVC with chamfered edges, or bit of hardwood, and stick it back onto the bath?! Might look really rubbish, or might be OK if you do a good job…

wall filler and valve FTW, then run the outlet to the overflow fill.

On a related point, which genius came up with the idea of replacing brass tap nuts which worked fine with piddly little plastic ones which go brittle and crack? 😡

I have a similar issue with a loose toilet seat. There is no possible way of getting behind there!

Probably quicker to knock through the wall next to the bath from the other side

Thankfully we had plasterboard wall, so this is the option I went for. I just cut a hole in wall, sorted plumbing to tap and shower, new plasterboard and asked plasterer in…

Chap i heard of had the taps fitted to front of bath so the where accesable to the do repairs etc, first night he had a bath slipped and did himself some damage when one leg slipped and he fell onto taps.

and its always best to build bath up on a plinth so you can get underneath and a build out from the wall also helps, eg removable shelf, and a mirror help to tighten up the taps, use flexible tails aswell going out sideways with a stop tap on each, dont cost much but make repairs so much easier.

What’s wrong with just putting them in the end like the olden days ?

I have a similar issue with a loose toilet seat. There is no possible way of getting behind there!

If it’s a similar set-up to mine, I took the top part of the fitting off, pushed the countersunk female connector down into the guts of the ceramic then refitted with these blind fixings.

You wouldn’t normally put end taps onto a double ended bath, which is normally the type of bath you’d fit side taps to.

Get the wife to do it or a child.

Socket, ratchet and a lot of extensions…

Dezb, as above a lot of toilet seat fittings are actually tightened from the top even if it doesn’t immediately look like it.

It is amazing what you learn running a bunch of chalets with 100 odd sinks / baths / loos between them. Especially when they’re plumbed and wired by Frenchmen! 😉

“Thanks guys” doesn’t really seem to cover it…..

stevomcd – Member
Socket, ratchet and a lot of extensions…

But how? A socket won’t fit on the end of any basin wrench I’ve seen. I suppose you could do basin wrench -> molgrips (tool not passat fettler) -> extension bar under the bath but it’d be a right pain in the chebs keeping the basin wrench on the tap nut.

project – Member
Chap i heard of had the taps fitted to front of bath so the where accesable to the do repairs etc, first night he had a bath slipped and did himself some damage when one leg slipped and he fell onto taps.

Ooof, doesn’t sound good. That reminds me, my brother-in-law slipped in his bathshower, landed on the mixer tap and had to go to A&E to get stitches in the gooch. Apparently the nurses were not sympathetic 😆

I know that’s not wholly (holey?) relevant to this thread but you’d be surprised how rarely opportunities to use the phrase “stitches in the gooch” arise.

which genius came up with the idea of replacing brass tap nuts which worked fine with piddly little plastic ones which go brittle and crack

Someone who got fed up with complaints that GRP baths gel coats cracked when people cranked up brass nuts to 300Nm?

You wouldn’t normally put end taps onto a double ended bath, which is normally the type of bath you’d fit side taps to.

Somewhere in this statement is a solution to the ops issue.

~Double ended baths are fun!

Mine has wall mounteed taps with a removable cover thru which the taps can be removed. thats the solution I used

you need to reach under the bath and then up to the base of the tap and tighten the nut , it will probably involve lying on your back and a lot of straining and stretching. i’ve just had the identical conversation with the bloke fitting my bathroom who has talked me out of having side taps.

There are various tap tools which should help with doing this.

wwaswas – Member

Someone who got fed up with complaints that GRP baths gel coats cracked when people cranked up brass nuts to 300Nm?

More like someone who thought “why are we selling parts which last forever when we can sell this landfill-fodder which lasts 5 years and then we can sell them another one”

No-one suggesting a bodge by shimming it up with some cut washers and threadlock? Worked for me on a kitchen monoblock in the last month of occupation.